Jim Barrett of Old Greenwich after getting off the 7:15 p.m. Metro-North local train, leaving in the background, out of New York City, at the Old Greenwich Train Station, Friday night, Feb. 14, 2014. Barrett said that the Metro-North trains operated on a Saturday schedule on Friday and that caused overcrowding on the trains..
Photo: Bob Luckey

At left, Jim Barrett of Old Greenwich exits the 7:15 p.m. Metro-North local train out of New York City at the Old Greenwich Train Station, Friday night, Feb. 14, 2014. Barrett said that the Metro-North trains operated on a Saturday schedule on Friday and that caused overcrowding on the trains..
Photo: Bob Luckey

The 7:15 p.m. Metro-North local train out of New York City arrives at the Old Greenwich Train Station, Friday night, Feb. 14, 2014. Old Greenwich resident Jim Barrett said that the Metro-North trains operated on a Saturday schedule on Friday and that caused overcrowding on the trains..
Photo: Bob Luckey

Commuters exit the 7:15 p.m. Metro-North local train out of New York City at the Old Greenwich Train Station, Friday night, Feb. 14, 2014. Old Greenwich resident Jim Barrett said that the Metro-North trains operated on a Saturday schedule on Friday and that caused overcrowding on the trains..
Photo: Bob Luckey

Looking to get back on track after the latest major storm, commuters across the region woke up Friday to find the trains they depend upon weren't ready to go, leaving Metro-North struggling again to assuage thousands of frustrated riders.

In just its fifth day under the leadership of new president Joseph Giulietti, the troubled railroad badly misjudged the number of riders who would need to get into the New York City area. Metro-North ran its weekend schedule for the Friday morning commute, taking its capacity down to 40 percent of normal.

The result: A morning ride that barely had standing room for thousands of customers, and several trains leaving stations before their scheduled times because they simply had no more room.

Awash in complaints at Grand Central Terminal and on social media, Metro-North belatedly added more trains for its evening rush hour.

But commuters like Josh Lents, who took the train Friday night from Grand Central to Stamford, said they only saw service from the flawed Saturday schedule plan.

"I'm willing to bet that if this were the case yesterday, there would be more understanding for such a disruption simply due to the weather," Lents wrote in an email. "But I just don't understand how ill-prepared the metro north was for people going back to work today."

"A critical mass has been reached. Instead of getting better, it just keeps getting worse. I know New Yorkers are hardy and tough, but come on. Just make the trains run." said Jim Barrett, a frustrated commuter who left Old Greenwich on one of the crowded trains bound for New York City on Friday morning.

As it claimed to be adding more trains, the railroad tried to explain itself.

"The result of this decision, based on forecasts and made last night with the storm still in progress, was not satisfactory," the railroad said in a statement. "We apologize, but also want our customers to understand the decision."

Metro-North said it opted for a Saturday schedule after seeing forecasts for an additional foot of snow falling on the region after Thursday's storm. It said it wanted to run the trains it had promised and didn't want to risk stranding customers in storm conditions.

In fact, the storm only sprinkled a few more inches across the area, as most forecasts had predicted.

The railroad also said it needed to limit the use of switches and interlockings, which allow trains to move between tracks, increasing capacity. Those pieces of the tracks "have moving parts and cannot function when snowbound."

The mad scramble for space on the train drove some to contact their elected officials, or anyone who could get the trains running properly. One person who received several calls was U.S. Sen Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., a frequent critic of the railroad in recent weeks.

Blumenthal said he plans to meet with Giuletti within the next two weeks and Friday's chaos would be at the top of the agenda.

"This issue is customer service, apparently misjudging consumer demand or cutting corners to save money," he said. "But whatever the motive, the mistake in capacity was certainly disastrous for a lot of Metro-North commuters."

Blumenthal said the federal government can't take over the train system and force it to run on time. But he said regulators have put Metro-North under intense scrutiny, and he said changes should be made to the governance of the railroad to give Connecticut a bigger decision-making stake.

But for commuters like Lents, who pays hundreds of dollars to ride the trains each month, the mechanism for change isn't as important as the fact that it simply needs to happen.

"For what we pay this is simply unacceptable," he said. "I sincerely hope that enough people make a stink about this seemingly ongoing problem that has left so many riders frustrated, trapped, and above all, let down."